Forgotten Sons, Foreign Tourers And First Memories

The job is very stressful indeed... keeping everyone happy in the Bike business is difficult nigh on impossible at times.  You got shed loads of cutomers, some awkward an fussy, some cool an groovy:  you have bikes workin in progress to provide and watch over, techs who ride who need you for their needs, sales guys who need you for their new or old sales etc.  Your Boss as well must be kept quite happy of course!  Then there's your mates who can be a priority then theres the damn phone ringing in the background constantly. To top it all there is a mountain of paperwork everyday and my in-tray is always bulging!  I knew i could multi-task but hell IS a place on earth and sometimes im in it getting my ass scorched!

I dream about part numbers!  Dont get me wrong, once my foot  is out the door my mind is free to concentrate on other things - the priority being keeping safe on my ride home.  Bootleg at this point i should tell you that this blog is gonna be a bit of a mess and no pics this time - oh yeah just the one an you'll like it so its up to you if you keep on reading dude - im just getting something off my chest today. 

Its a claim and blame society we live in these days, you leave something loose on a customers bike like a wheel axle nut and it causes an accident no matter how big or how small then you are liable - even if it doesnt cause an accident and the guy checks his bike over later and finds it loose then he will want written apologys - he will contact the manufacturer of his bike and complain about you - he will want discount for the rest of his life and you are gonna give it to him because you are a pussy and are scared to stand up to someone - he is gonna tell his mates about the shoddy service he got with you and your reputation is built on little things like this.  Its a hard game to be in if you don't know what you are doin or don't care about people and what they want.  And i do give a sh*t about these people - scooter riders, young lasses just starting out who will blossom into biker chicks, young lads who start small and work their way up because something is in their blood telling them biking is right for them - Mr Jones in his 70's still riding his original Bonneville T100 who will put you young whippersnappers to shame on country lanes an stuff (but bore the pants off me when he's ordering tyres etc - fussy old so an so)

Dont know where that diatribe came from but i knew i had something niggling at me today.

Forgotten Sons:  I have redicovered the all Magical Marillion recently and its been great - coz of the stress i undertake i put youtube on in the background for music and you would be amazed at what people upload.  Thompson Twins, Tight Fit: The Lion Sleeps Tonight!  Aw Shud Up a Ya Face is even on there but anyway Marillion have a song called Forgotten Sons and i was lookin for a heading with F for this blog thingy and couldnt quite get it in my head what to do this time around.  You think about the the title of this song and you think about the people who have gone from your life and thats quite depressing really - didnt want a blog to be depressing - not that they are entertaining anyway i dunno?

Obvious to our community would be two popular souls namely Joey Dunlop who won the TT 26 times or something and died on a 125cc racing the TT.  What an amazing guy.  Then Barry Sheen taken from us by cancer but for me and im sorry to put this on here: its the guy who inspired me to ride - my best friends brother. 

Only a teenager when i met this guy Simon but yeah when you meet someone with a heart of gold boy dont you just know it.  Pulling out of a cul-de-sac 4am on his 600cc ThunderCat and a car hits him,  comes out of nowhere over a brow of a blind hill and throws him 200 yards up the road - car was doin 90 in a 40. Theres still a monument near us where it happened and i always let on to it (i'll get to to "Letting On" in another blog) - sends a shiver up my spine when i pass it man.  What would he have been ridin now  but for a fate happening? Si was 21 years old.

Thats why i didnt wanna write about Forgotten Sons because its depressing so yeah i apologise to those reading.

First Memories:  i guess everyone has a first memory - they must do!  Mine is of a bike, sometimes i cant quite believe that but its true.  The back of my parents house backed closely onto another back yard across an alley and one time i must be like 2 or 3 years old, and all i can remember is being stood at the top of our back steps and suddenly hearing this massive roar of thunder as a bike was started across the way and revved up like crazy - glad i was wearing a nappy coz i must of sh*t myself!!

The funny thing was that these guys across the way were Transvestite Bikers... Did i  spell Transvestite right... doesnt look right?! Anyway can you imagine this guy.....

Riding a Motorcycle?? Yeah you probably could but hell why couldnt my first childhood memory be of a chu-chu train or a day in the park on the swings?   Instead i get swingers.... cool

And the last F was what?  Oh yeah... one of the funniest things i have heard - you may have had to be there i dunno but one working day i get this call and its from a young 22 year old German lad travelling through England on his way back to Europe and he wants a service doin on his bike - a GSXR1000 big respect at 22 dude.

So he's called like 4 or 5 places and no-one has space for him at short notice and im liking him more an more as i talk to him so i wanna help him out... grab his mobile number so i can have a word with some of the lads.  At that time i worked with one of the most talented Technicians i have ever met and im happy to say he has now set his own place is and doin well for himself - Deserves it - i know how fast he can work so i ask him if he'll fit him in and he says of course i'll do it on my dinner hour!  What a diamond. 

I call this guy an he's over the moon with us which is nice and then he says this, you gotta say this to yourself in a German accent - i will never forget it..... "And i will also need some new rubber for my backside...."  WTF Erm think boy think...  hang on "Do you mean you need a new rear Tyre"?  "Yes Yes new rear tyre thank you for your English"!! Funny man! 

He ended up arriving at our place at 6 am and got talking to two girls outside and they let him spend a couple of hours in one of their beds for some rest whilst we worked on his Gixer - Lucky Bollocks or what!!??

Anyways im out - you might not have enjoyed this bikin blog but something in me has been released so thanks for that at least - take care out there!